With Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania having officially released, the film's director, Peyton Reed, broke down what went into the film's Multiversal post-credits scenes.
The MCU's latest super-powered blockbuster is finally here, with Paul Rudd's Scott Lang going up against the franchise's next Thanos-level big bad Kang the Conqueror.
Despite being an Ant-Man movie, much of Quantumania was about setting up Jonathan Majors' new Multiversal baddie, someone who has "so many Variants" set to wreak havoc across the MCU in the coming years.
Ant-Man 3 spotlighted just one of these Variants, dubbed "warrior" Kang, but teased a whole lot more!
Ant-Man 3's Post-Credits Break Down
Warning - the rest of this article contains spoilers for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
In a new interview, Peyton Reed, the director of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, opened up about the mid-credits scene's twist revealing that hundreds of Kang Variants have begun gathering together under the initiative of the Council of Kangs.
Speaking with Fandom, Reed noted how "there were a lot of discussions" about "which [Kang Variants] we were specifically going to show," but the key was giving moviegoers a tease that "there are an almost infinite number of Kangs out there:"
“There were a lot of discussions about which ones we were specifically going to show and how much but the key was to really give the audience a taste of there are an almost infinite number of Kangs out there. Each one is in a different timeline, a different universe in the Multiverse."
The MCU director noted that no matter who they focused on, they had to leave the film having "introduce[d] this sort of triumvirate of Kangs" and "suggest[ed] that there’s another power structure out there with the Kang:"
"To touch on these different characters, for Jonathan, it’s an actor’s dream, to be able to play all these different roles. But in a very short period of time, we wanted to introduce this sort of triumvirate of Kangs and suggest that there’s another power structure out there with the Kangs. Somebody exiled Kang the Conqueror into the Quantum Realm outside of space and time where he could not access his powers."
He compared the hierarchy of Kangs to the mafia of the Godfather films, while also lamenting that he really wanted to get that "Council of Kangs image that’s such an iconic comic panel" on the big screen:
"And suddenly you realize, oh, maybe there’s this sort of Mafia-esque, kind of 'Godfather'-esque, hierarchy at play. That seemed interesting and we had to do that all very, very quickly. And of course, I wanted to get to that Council of Kangs image that’s such an iconic comic panel with them up in the rafters. The guys in the cheap seats cheering up there, I loved it.”
In another interview with Entertainment Tonight, Reed called this Council of Kangs scene a "technical nightmare," giving credit to Jonathan Majors for "[getting] specific with each of those individual characters:"
“It’s a technical nightmare. It only works if you have actors like Paul and Jonathan who can really, you know, get specific with each of those individual characters and their responses. And so, that was fun.”
Marvel Studios producer Stephen Broussard chimed in on the post-credits sequence as well. In a conversation with Collider's Steven Weintraub, Broussard said that the three Kangs the stinger focused on were strategically picked because they had "notable arcs” in Marvel Comics.
But that concept of infinite Kangs was something the Marvel executive thought was exciting, as it teased that "anything is on the table:
“It seems that anything is on the table. We’ve seen radically different versions of this character, where does it go next? It could go in so many places, and the unknown of that is exciting. Far be it for me to tell the kind of film for Destin [Daniel Cretton] to make, and for my colleagues to make, [it] is in good hands with that stuff. But just the notion of so much possibility being on the table is exciting.”
A Deeper Look at the Council of Kangs
The Council of Kangs is an exciting concept to have introduced into the MCU.
This idea that the new Avengers-level threat is infinite is a scary one. While there was only one Thanos, there seems to be no end to Kang the Conqueror. And fans got just a taste of this in Quantumania.
The post-credit scene did not have the chance to introduce every single one of these Variants of Jonathan Majors's Multiversal villain, but it did focus on a couple of them.
As explained by Peyton Reed and Stephen Broussard, this spotlighting of the trio of Rama-Tut, Scarlet Centurion, and Immortus was very intentional, as these are three of the more recognizable Kang Variants.
It is unknown if these three characters are going to remain the face of the Council of Kangs, but their diverse looks at least plant the seeds that the villain could really pop up anywhere, at any time, and in any universe.
Other Kangs will surely come to prominence in the MCU. Maybe the recently-discussed Lizard Kang will have his day in the sun sometime soon.
No matter what happens, fans will have their hands full with Kang Variants, with the character set to next pop up in Loki Season 2.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing in theaters worldwide.
